


Take My Turn

by Sonamae



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: Buglets, Crack Fic, Crossover, Emotional Manipulation, Fix It Fic, Fluff, Hardline sex, M/M, Poor Unfortunate Robots, Schmoop, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, The Sad Life of Waspinator, pregnancy mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-03 06:10:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonamae/pseuds/Sonamae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Waspinator is innocent, but no bot on the Alchemor is going to believe a Decepticon.  Then again, when it crashes, maybe one bot really will believe him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nothumanafterall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothumanafterall/gifts).



 The dizziness that comes from stasis gas doesn’t go away instantly like they say it does in the manual, in fact the effects linger depending on frame type. According to the data pad Waspinator was clutching, the affects wore off in stages, plus then they wore off type. Beast mode mecha could shake off the effects without getting to stage two, or even shake through stage one without even noticing. Vehicle mecha had to deal with maybe an orn of stage one, which was a lightheaded feeling and possibly blurry vision. This stupid pad had every alt most listed accept insect, and for some reason that didn’t really surprise him.

 Stasis vapor was a certain kind of hell for insect mecha, and as much as Waspinator had pleaded that they just offline him instead, the guards gad gone through with pumping his pod full of the slag. Hibernation would have been more pleasant than this because at least when he hibernated he could dream. But none of the _auto-butts_ trusted anyone with a Decepticon badge, so they obviously didn’t care about his well being.

 He wasn’t even that bad of a bot, he was framed… and they’d hurt him shoving him into that stupid pod.

 The crash landing had cracked the glass to the viewport and thrown him and several others through the window, each pod jettisoned out onto a strange island. The jarring relocation had of course caused him to panic.

 One minute he’d been hit over the head and forced into a tube, and the next his helm had cracked against the back of a bent in half stasis pod that was filling quickly with murky liquid.

 His first thought was how much he _deserved_ this. Even if he couldn’t drown, this was his punishment and he would stick it out. Maybe when it was over they’d see he wasn’t a bad bot after all and they’d let him go home.

 Not that he _had_ a home yet.

 But after those initial thoughts he was able to calm down and see the large crack through the bottom of the pod. That’s where the murky liquid was spewing in from, not a tube or a vent like he’d though.

 The first stage of stasis gas withdraw hit him as he attempted to bend down in the cramped space and he had to grasp the walls. His mandibles clicked in frustration, his antenna flattening back to his helm as he tried to wait it out. That was ineffectual though, so instead Waspinator dove to the bottom of the pod and used his tarsal claws to rip the tear in the stasis pod wider.

 When it was finally big enough, he wiggled out of the wreckage and looked about. He quickly realized that the pod was half in the water and half out of it. He groused and extended his wings above the water, letting them buzz in the air until all the liquid had dispersed. When that was done, he grabbed the stasis pod with his back legs and pulled.

 Waspinator mad a heavy effort to drag the pod to shore, and when it was finally drained of the murky liquid he climbed back inside and pulled out the _‘Emergency Notification Datapad’_. All stasis pods came equipped with them in case of a crash, he knew that from overhearing it… somewhere.

 Where he’d never remember, maybe a safety lecture. Mecha liked giving safety lectures.

 The blurred vision came in rolling waves as Waspinator walked away from the pod and toward some sort of solid ground. This was one of his sillier ideas, after all he should have waited the stasis gas out, but he also wanted so desperately to _move_. His wings were still buzzing in annoyance as he attempted to read the symptoms of his current state, and maybe find out when it would go away.

 He didn’t have time to look at where he was or what he was, unknowingly, destroying. All that Waspinator could think about was getting away, getting to safety, and never getting back in that pod again. He knocked over trees to get them out of the way, upturned fences when they swayed or snapped under his need to rest, and eventually his wings got caught in some sort of electrical wiring and he simply ripped the whole thing off.

 By the time he’d found a place to sit and regroup his thoughts, he’d realized he’d lost the data pad somewhere along the way. Wasn’t stage three misplaced belongings or sense of self? But then he’d have skipped stage two? But what was stage two?

 Waspinator didn’t even have time to whine before someone was shouting at him. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but one thing was for certain when he looked up at them.

 They were _Autobots_.

 Red badges were pretty obvious, even if they were more like red blobs. But there was also the tone of voice, it screamed ‘law enforcer.’

 Waspinator kicked off the ground and flew straight into the tree line. There was absolutely _no way_ they were going to put him back into that stasis pod. None _what so_ _ever_!

 Behind him the sounds of tires on organic tread roared in his audile receivers along with the boom of footfalls much too big to be a normal beast mode. As Waspinator flitted through the trees and undergrowth he listened in to the predator chasing him so he could better calculate his escape.

 Three vehicle mode mecha, two speedsters and one… roadside? Bigger frame, heavier tracks and kicking up quite a bit of the organics. The heavy footer was weighed, with… a tail? That sounded like the swish of a tail.

 The roar gave it away.

 Three vehicle mecha and a fragging _dinobot_. Only Waspinator would be chased by a dino-bot. If he had wiper ducts he’d cry.

 Instead he dropped low to the ground and began to burrow into the roots of some heavy scented plant. The soil here wasn’t tough like Cybertronian metals were, in fact they were pliable, sifting aside easily enough and reshaping over him as he settled in with the roots. There was just enough coverage from the plant above him to hide his eyes as he peered out into the light, fighting through vision that was too blurring to pinpoint detail.

 A red blurr zipped passed him and he flinched. Then a white blue zipped by, the tankor vehicle, or whatever that mecha was. Last came a yellow at a slower pace with the dinobot thumping up next to them when the yellow vehicle transformered and started shouting.

 Waspinator still couldn’t understand them, their voices all warbling in and out with the after effects, but he did make out something.

_‘… capture alive…’_

 He tried not to tremble as he buried himself deeper in the soil and tucked his hands over his eyes. This was the worst possible day, and he still had to get through it _and_ the stasis effects.

 … Maybe he could just recharge it off? The soil was warm and reminded him of a nest pod, and the Autobots were retreating… leaving? They were going _away_.

 Recharge sounded nice, it wasn’t going to be a proper thing by any means, but Waspinator hadn’t had a proper recharge since…

 He blinked behind his hands and curled in on himself in the sun baked soil. Recharge it was.


	2. 2

 For three orns Waspinator recharged in a half hibernation like state. Occasionally he would crawl out of his makeshift nest and find a new one when the Autobots got too close, but after three days they simply stopped showing up. He wasn’t sure why they‘d give up so easily, but he wasn’t going to question a chance to be _free_. A chance to start over, even if the planet wasn’t properly suited to him.

 He stumbled through the trees for another orn, picking up static filled radio signals on his old comm line and looking in an almost desperate haze for energon. There was no denying how hungry he was, and at this point he’d settle for killing a small mecha animal and drinking it dry.

 The animals here were not mecha though. Everything here was _organic_ , and Waspinator was going to offline if he didn’t find something soon. That or he’d fall into a semi-permanent shut down and the Autobots would find him… no he’d honestly prefer to be offline than be treated like that again.

 Finally luck seemed to be on his side on the early rise of the fifth orn. The sun was warm and bright and filling the air with thick humidity as he walked, and it was fitting. Waspinator didn’t have the energy to fly today, but he trudged through the trees until he stumbled upon his stasis pod. He’d made one big loop somehow, but that had to have been a _good_ sign.

 Maybe the emergency energon line in the pod still had a hookup? If he could unhook it from the wall inside the pod then he could get enough to last him a few more orns. Or at least enough to hunt for more.

 After all, if the Autobots were out and about they had to have access to fuel.

 Right?

 Oh no, what if the reason they stopped looking for him was because _they’d_ ran out of fuel?

 Waspinator tried not to whimper as he climbed into the hole in the stasis pod and wiggled around trying to find the feeding tube. The pod was still damp, though only from the strange humidity of being so close to the water he’d dragged it from orns ago. Something was trying to grow into the side of the pod near the entrance and Waspinator spent a few minutes poking and prodding the squishy substance before shaking his head to focus on his task.

 Food was more _important_. _Focus_. He needed energon more than he needed to be curious.

 With a bit of fiddling, Waspinator was able to pry back a few panels until he found a tube full of the glowing pink energon used for people in stasis. This was full of slow dissolving nutrient energon, the kind used for stalled patients or people in Re-Gen pods. Waspinator followed the line to the injection cord and the mid-sized cube it was connected to.

 The instructions on the cube were printed in a small font that made his optics hurt. His fans clicked on in frustration as he tried to read the words, but he was too hungry to care. He pinched the tube near the injector and winced when a few drops dribbled to the floor.

 No time to waste things. Wasting energon was a terrible thing to do, and he wasn’t a terrible Cybertroian. He was a _hungry_ Cybetronian.

 Waspinator leaned his head back and let his mandibles slide out to either side of his helm, his jaw unlocking with a click. His lower beak spread out, his glossa extended as he stuck the tube on top and tried not to shut his beak and accidentally break the tube.

 The slight bend was enough to slow the energon, but Waspiator was still readily sucking it down and trying not to moan. His entire protoform shook as the taste and he _knew_ he was a pitiful sight.

 This was real energon, not mecha blood. This was pure crystal extract, thick and sweet as it rolled sticky down his throat and into his tank.

 Each gulp rebooted systems he’d forgotten he’d even turned off to save power, and some of them he kept online once they rebooted. Others he manually shut down as he pulled the tube from his mouth and tied it off. Something this precious needed to be saved no matter how hungry he was. No matter how loudly his tanks protested to have just a few more drops, he _knew_ he needed to conserve and let the small flecks in his tanks dissolve first before going in for seconds.

 Slowly, Waspinator settled to the bottom of the pod after prying the cube out of the wall and cradling it close to his chest. His offlined his optics and let the trembling run its course, slowly feeling energy burst through him in small sparks as the food popped and fizzled in his empty tanks. There was something about energon that he’d been told once, or maybe it was another of those things he’d overheard?

 Take it slow if it’s rich and you’re poor?

 It was something along those lines at least, if you weren’t used to rich energons then they could make you sick. He knew this, that was why he was sitting in the bottom of a statis pod wishing he could cry.

 _Not_ because he wasn’t used to drinking energon, or because he hadn’t had real energon since before the Decepticons were taken down. He wasn’t miserable because he was malnourished and mistreated.

 He wasn’t _trembling_ because the weight of the world was on his shoulders and it was heavy and hated him.

 He was just getting used to the nutrients.

 That was _all_ …

 Waspinator drew in a breath to stir his fans and keep his systems from overheating. He’d be okay. He’d be okay. He’d… be _okay_.


	3. 3

 A clicking noise awoke Waspinator and he jerked. He had to refresh his internal chronometer out of fear, and when he did he was in shock over the time gap.

 Something outside of his field of vision was scuttling around the pod, scraping rocks and dirt along as they moved about. Low voices accompanying the noise and he flinched.

 “See, told you it was a pod.” Someone said with a heavy puff. “I ain’t stupid.” The bots voice was confrontational and almost a growl.

 “No one said you were, Thunderhoof,” a smooth voice murmured, “I’m very proud of you for finding it in this swamp though, it mustn’t have been easy to navigate.” Another bot scoffed.

 “Eyoo, thank ya pussy cat.” Thunderhoof’s voice said with an awkward vent snuffle. Waspinator felt his antenna flick upward.

 “I’m not a… oh never mind.” The other bot said with a sigh. “Help me with the pod won’t you?”

 The footsteps got closer and Waspinator shoved the cube of energon into his subspace. He scrambled toward the hole in his pod and felt a rush of fear and adrenaline. His wings started up at a furious buzz and he darted out of the hole, trying to bolt toward the tree line and escape just as he had with the Autobots.

 What if these were the _same_ Autobots? He’d have to fly really fast, maybe even transform into his altmode.

 Something grabbed his ankle as he tried to dive out of the pod and he screamed. His back leg was nearly torn out of his hip socket as another hand wrapped around his tibia and yanked him closer.

 “Let Wazzpinator go,” he shrieked and tried to thrash in the grasp, “he hazzen’t done anything wrong!” The servos gripped his leg tighter and Waspinator screamed when he felt the metal threaten to crumple.

 Today had started out so well too.

 “Thunderhoof!” A voice boomed, the one he’d heard earlier in fact. The mecha who held on to Waspinator’s ankles looked up, his grip easing a fraction. Waspinator tried with renewed effort to fly away, but was slammed to the ground for his effort.

 “What, just caught ya a bug pussy cat, ain’t no reason to be raising ya voice at me.” Thunderhoof let out a huff and canted his head. The other mecha let out a sigh and walked over, elbow nudging gently at the inside of Thunderhoof’s arm.

 “That’s no way to treat a fellow _Decepticon_ , Thunderhoof. You’ve scared him enough already.” The mecha knelt down in front of Waspinators line of sight and he tried to curl in on himself. Every point of his metal and extension of his plating screamed _predator_. “Are you alright, Waspinator right?”

 Above him, Thunderhoof yanked and lifted Waspinator off the ground, dangling him by his ankles.

 “ _Really_ Steeljaw? This scrawny piece a aluminum? Ain’t no way he’s a Con.” Thunderhoof poked at Waspinator’s wings and they bent inward in little dents. Waspinator arched away from the finger and heard a growl from the other Con.

 “Thunderhoof.” His voice was full of an underlying growl. The sound made Waspinator whimper and Thunderhoof still his torment. “Put him _down_ , he looks half starved to death.” The strangers voice eased on the growl and he helped right Waspinator, his hands gentle even though Waspinator could feel the predatory push of his EM Field.

 Thunderhoof still wouldn’t let him go, hands now firmly on Waspinator’s shoulders and stance menacing as he loomed behind him, boxing him in. Steeljaw threw a glance over Waspinator’s shoulder, then offered him a reassuring smile as he lowered himself to be closer in height.

 “I’m so sorry about Thunderhoof,” Steeljaw said as he offered a paw, “while he may excel with proper business sense, he severely lacks in manners.” There was a soft smirk on his face that Waspinator took as all teeth and sharp claws. “Are you hungry? Why not stick around with us and let us get you something to eat?”

 The way he said it, it was laced with grease and syrup. The very thought made Waspinator’s tank roll over with hunger. Steeljaw smirked wider at the sound.

 “Wazzpinator… would rather find hizz own food.” Waspinator muttered as he tried to look away. A cold paw tucked under his mandibles and gentle fingers turned his face.

 “But we’re the same,” Steeljaw waved at his scratched Decepticon badge and then brushed the back of his knuckle over Waspinator’s, “we’re _all_ trying to outrun those Autobots. We just want to live here in peace, make our own way with our own source of food we found. We want to live in _peace_ , _no_ fighting.” His smile could have churned crud and melted rust right off the backside of a city-former.

 Each little twitch of Steeljaw’s ears seemed to be like a relaxant to Waspinator’s nerves, and as much as he didn’t want to trust this stranger… he sort of _did_? Then again it could also be the aroma wafting off the fresh cube that Steeljaw pulled from his subspace and cracked open.

 “How about this?” Steeljaw lifted the cube and tilted it to the side. Waspinator felt his wings twitch, the plating pressed close to his back by the force of Thunderhoof’s grip. His entire body vibrated as a single drop slipped down the side of the cube.

 “Careful with that!” Waspinator nearly shouted.

 Steeljaw smirked and stood up straight. “I’ll make you a deal, I’ll give you this cube and as many more as you can stuff yourself with if you let me scratch up that Decepticon badge and join us.” He swirled the contents and nodded to Thunderhoof over Waspinator’s head.

 The thought of a full belly made Waspinator jerk forward, trying to break free of the grip.

 “Yezz fine, fine juzzt… let Wazzpinator _eat_.” He pleaded.

 Steeljaw nodded and Thunderhoof’s grip let go, flinging Waspinator right into the scratch of the wolf mecha’s claws. They tore into the badge like it were a copper crust, swinging out in an elegant swoop. Waspinator couldn’t stop the scream, it hurt more than it should have and he knew it.

 As he felt himself crumple, Steeljaw was quick to swoop him up, keeping him from hitting the soil.

 “Here you go, eat up.” The wolf settled the cube into Waspinator’s hands and pulled him to his feet. Even as Waspinator opened his mouth to eat he kept his eyes on the other two mecha, each talking silently over a personal comm. He could almost see the frequency, tight bundles of emotion pouring between a single look and a frustrated huff from Steeljaw.

 Thunderhoof smirked and attempted to huff back, as if teasing the wolf, but it came out awkward and made the other mecha chuckle. He didn’t had nose ridges so everything came out of his vents, no wonder it had been awkward earlier.

 “Elegant indeed.” Steeljaw muttered as he crossed his arms. Thunderhoof just shook his head from side to side, stamping a foot to show his emphasis.

 Waspinator closed his optics on both of them when it was obvious thry were wrapped up in each other, his focus souly on devouring his food now. Those two could take up each others time, all he wanted to do was eat and forget that everything else existed.

 The Energon was thick and not as warm as he was used to, but it was full and made from the real stuff. This was going to make him so sick and he didn’t even care. His tank was already protesting at the small amount of medical grade that he’d devoured earlier, but he knew it would be worth it even with this adition splurge.

 Well, maybe it _wouldn’t_ be, but he was hungry enough not to care about what he might feel like later. There were drops of energon spilling over the sides of his cheek plates as he tilted the cube back further, and they were perfect. He didn’t even care that he whined.

 Across from him, Steeljaw asked something, but Waspinator ignored it in favor of licking the inside of the cube clean. He took his fingers and tried to wipe up the energon on his cheeks abd beak plates before stuffing them into his mouth. His mandibles clacked around the digits and he heard Thunderhoof make a disgusted groan.

 “Hush,” Steeljaw muttered, “that must feel much better, right? Let’s get ready to go now, you can tell me all about yourself along the way.” His plating echoed a click as he crossed his arms.

 Waspinator clutched the cube to his chest as he reset the position of his mandibles. With his optics blinking and reseting, several of his systems already trembling with overcharge, he looked about. The feeling of his body fully waking up after so long was like a livewire dancing through his tanks, and it was _delightful_. Slowly he reached up to touch the scratched brand on his chest and he trembled, his wings thrumming with the alerts to take off if need to.

 “Zzteeljaw… hazz to promizze not to hurt Wazzpinator anymore.” Trying to say the strangers name was uncomfortable on his glossa. Too much ‘S’ and in the worst possible place.

 The wolf mecha looked startled. “Why in this world would I want to hurt you?” he seemed genuine in his question.

 Waspinator looked down at the cube, then glanced at Thunderhoof. “Everybody wantzz to hurt Wazzpinator…” he glanced over at Steeljaw’s soft smile, “… don’t they?”

 “Not with us, brother.” Steeljaw extended one hand. “Come on, let’s go home.” The word made Waspinator tremble all over, his wings stuttering and jerking in shock. Thunderhoof seemed less than impressed as he turned away from them and started stomping through the forest.

 Home.

 What even _was_ a home anymore?

 Waspinator took Steeljaw’s hand and decided he’d find out when he got there. Maybe this would be different, Steeljaw hadn’t lied to him yet. He hadn’t even attacked him, and the scratching didn’t count. Thunderhoof was a pile of scrap, but he listened to Steeljaw and that _had_ to count for something.

 Didn’t it?


	4. 4

 The crunch of leaves under his peds was ominous, but Waspinator let Steeljaw lead the way. They stumbled through the woods and into what looked like an abandoned warehouse, the ceiling falling in heavily on the right side. Earlier Thunderhoof had lifted the stasis pod onto his shoulder and carried it with them along the way, and Waspinator watched both strangers as they shuffled the busted metal into a corner where the roof had caved in.

 The walk there had been held in short conversation, and most of it being Steeljaw asking Waspinator about his life and ‘what he could do.’ Not like _that_ was anything special. He was an insecticon, he could fly, sting people, make a distracting buzzing sound that scared the vast majority of bots. ( And he still had no idea why it scared them, but for some reason they freaked out _every_ time they heard him coming. )

 His talents weren’t very great, if anyone could even call them _talents_. None the less, he brought them to the table and didn’t even bother to learn the other Cons names when they when they were introduced, they all seemed utterly uninterested in him anyway. Waspinator knew when he wasn’t wanted, but he stuck around and stared in awe at the room Steeljaw was offering him. The space was no bigger than a storage closet, probably because it _was_ a storage closet, but it was wide enough for his altmode and high enough to stand. There were also bars he could _nest_ on. There was also an abundance of sheet metal on the floor that came up to Waspinator’s knees.

 Steeljaw must have gone out of his way to pick a room that fit Waspinator’s alt type. That made his spark swell with delight, and after taking a few cubes out of the ‘shared mess hall,’ he was quick to hoard them in his tiny space that felt so undeniably comfortable in. He hollowed out a notch in the back wall and covered it with some of the metal plating, keeping his hoarded food there. He did this for several other spots on the wall, some empty and others containing little shiny things Waspinator kept on his person.

 When he was satisfied, he pulled himself up onto the pipe and dragged the recharge box and cable into the corner. He hooked himself up as he started working on a proper ‘hive’, whittling and spitting on the ends of the metal to reform it and make it hot enough to weld together. Thankfully he didn’t need to recharge and be offline since he’d recharged _recently_ , and his tank was too busy being sore and trying to make him purge to even try and rest. This meant he could spend the entire recharge cycle making a proper berth and still keep himself hooked up.

 One of the benefits of being an insecticon, he very rarely needed to keep to a recharge schedule.

 When he was done making his berth, the cycle had turned over and it was now mid-day. Waspinator could hear the other cons puttering about in the main room and he contemplated getting up to join them. On one claw, it meant breakfast ( that he hadn’t already hoarded ) but on the other claw it meant _interacting_ with the other bots. The atmosphere with him there was already as tense as he could possibly imagine, and the thought of him having to wade through it almost made him sick.

 Sadly his tank rumbled for more fuel and he huffed. This was why eating on a regular, full basis was bad, he got hungry bare minimum once a day. He’d need to wean himself back again.

 With a long ex-vent, his fans clicked and stuttered. He climbed off his berth and pushed the covering back over the top; still not as great as a blanket, but he’d make due.

 He left his tiny room for the vast open space of the warehouse and stretched his wings. He turned off his auto-buzz and fluttered above a few of the cons heads without them noticing, which was one of the best parts of his life, and then slipped into the mess hall. Breakfast was downed as slowly as he could possibly take it, and the whole time he was _savoring_ it.

 After he’d licked his cube clean and set it in the wash bucket, he’d turned his auto-buzz back on and fluttered into the common room of the warehouse again. Waspinator flew as high as he could get and settled on one of the rafters that looked the sturdiest and watched his fellow Cons. The conversations were fun to listen to, and the only one to really seem to notice his presence had been Steeljaw.

 The wolf mecha was sitting rather close to Thunderhoof on a crate, while the tractor sat on the floor with his helm resting against Steeljaw’s thigh. He looked utterly wrecked and still sleepy, but his optics remained fully alert if not lowered as Steeljaw pet his horns. Waspinator filed that as useful information.

 Things might be peaceful _here_ , but he had spent so long of his life trading information for food that spying became second nature. He picked up social cues and environmental mishaps from those around him ( as long as he didn’t have to be apart of the conversation at least ) very easily. Reading the mood of a room was like looking at a radio wave length, he didn’t even think about it anymore, it just happened.

 The other Cons went about their day, mostly bickering with one another or huddled over blueprints. A fight almost broke out once, but a simple snarl from Steeljaw made everyone quiet and relax back into the light tension from earlier. They seemed to feel most comfortable with their guards up, which Waspinator knew all too well, and he greatly enjoyed watching them and getting to know them from afar.

 Sort of.

 He was still positive the only bot that knew he was even _in_ the rafters was Steeljaw.

 When the night cycle came, Waspinator waited for everyone to leave before he left for his own room. The next few weeks were pretty much a repeat of the first day, and Waspinator learned the names and weaknesses of his fellow cons all from the safety of his second nest in the rafters.

 One day, Steeljaw called him down and startled the other Cons with his acknowledgement.

 “He’s still here? He didn’t die?” Fracture muttered in surprise and confusion.

 “Wait, who is he again?” Clampdown snapped his claws nervously. “Do I owe you money? No… no not _you_. I don’t owe anyone like _you_ money.” He shuffled to the side and Waspinator made sure to fly as far away from those claws as possible.

 Steeljaw chuckled and made a seat beside him available. Thunderhoof scuffed the floor by kicking his ped, a look of distaste on his face. It made Steeljaw smirk.

 If those two weren’t fragging then Waspinator would retire his wings.

 “Everyone, you remember Waspinator,” Steeljaw gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder after he sat down, “how have you found your new home? Is everything to your liking, has everyone been treating you properly?” Steeljaw poured on that sweet reassurance again and Waspinator trembled. Thunderhoof’s jealousy was a physical wave off his EM field making him flinch closer to Steeljaw just to get out of arms reach.

 “Wazzpinator hazzn’t talked to any of them.” He muttered, keeping his optics on his peds and his antenna low. Steeljaw seemed to find that delightful though because he _chuckled_.

 “Well, I’m sure they didn’t even notice you were here, with how stealthy you are. I’d say you’re even quieter than _I_ am.” The wolf’s smirk was all teeth as always. “It actually had me thinking Waspinator, with how quiet you are and how good you are at not getting caught-” Thunderhoof scoffed, “that maybe you’d be willing to do a recon mission for us? Just to gather information, no need to put yourself in any sort of danger after all.”

 Waspinator felt all the metal on his body perk up and then instantly tighten close. He would be happy to do something useful, and this was something he knew how to do. Something he was good at in fact.

 But then again… this was also something that got him put on the Alchemor. The one thing he knew he was good at could also get him hurt again. He could feel himself curling in on his body, and Steeljaw hushed him with a warm hand to his lower strut.

 “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, just as long as you’re willing to defend our home if the Autobots attack us because we didn’t know they were coming.” Steeljaw said. Waspinator felt his antanna flatten fully against his helm.

 “Wazzpinator will do it.” And that was that. Steeljaw slapped him on the back and gave him a general direction to look in, then sent him off without another word.


	5. 5

 Finding a scrap yard in the middle of a forest really wasn’t _that_ hard, and the fact that Steeljaw hadn’t found it sooner made Waspinator suspect that there was something he wasn’t being told. Heck, even getting passed the gate was easy with his wings to help him, and mapping out the grounds was even _easier_. Something about this just didn’t sit well with him.

 Eventually he did need rest though, so he found an untouched part of the scrap yard to settle in and closed his optics while his wings recharged against his back.

 While he was resting, he gathered all the data he could and collected it into a neat folder. Well… as neat as it was possible for him to get. He cycled through the pictures one last time and deleted anything that was too blurry to understand, then he let out a long sigh. His vents were so overworked lately, life on this planet was causing him so much stress.

 “What are you doing steer-deer- _here_! What are you doing _here_?” A small voice asked behind him. Waspinator jerked in shock and dove for the nearest pile of metal on instinct. This was what he hadn’t been told about, it must have been a security drone. His wings were still too tired to fly yet, but if he could reroute power somewhere…

 “Wait a minute, you’re a Decepticon!” The small voice got closer and Waspinator felt his plating tremble. From around the corner a minibot rolled up, a stasis rod fumbling back and forth in its awkwardly set hands. The bot was a garish orange, but the bright blue optics seemed… oddly familiar? Not just because they seemed to be standard Autobot blue either, but something about those optics…

 The minibot held the rod in one hand finally and pulled a small data pad from his subspace, then he set it to scan. Waspinator hissed as the scanner beam trickled over him and left a faint tickle across his plating.

 That was rude. He didn’t even _ask_ if it was alright to use that frequency for a scan, what if Waspinator had an allergy? The bot let the pad rest against one of his wheels as he waited for the readouts to finish.

 “Bumblebee, this is Fixit to main command, do you floppy-soppy- _copy_?” The bot waited, then frowned when nothing but static came back over the line. Waspinator focused on the trail of the feedback with his optics, watching as the data flowed into a broken stream and bounced back. Other streams flowed overhead, bouncing into one another or breaking off when too much metal and buzzing radio noise filtered into it.

 This place was a comm link disaster. It was horrifying.

 “Bumblebee, do you copy?” Again, radio static was the only response. Fixit grumbled under his vents and Waspinator thought he heard a few Cybertronian curses. He stayed in the pile, eyeing the small bot as he squared his shoulders and held the stasis prod with more conviction. “Okay Decepticon, come out with your hands up!”

 Like slag _that_ was going to happen.

 Waspintor attempted to bury himself even further in the pile of scrap, ignoring the soft beeping noise that came from the data pad on the minibots hip. As he watched, the minibot flinch in shock. Waspinator saw him fumble with the pad and nearly drop the stasis rod.

 “Darn lit-bit- _it_.” Fixit huffed, his vents fluttering with his exhale. He shook his helm and set the stasis prod against his hip and held the pad with both hands. His optics flicked across whatever data had popped up on the screen and he seemed to go from stiff shouldered to relaxed and worried. “Oh…” Waspinator watched as he looked straight into the pile and locked blue optics with Waspinator.

 In response, Waspinator hissed and tried to scramble in deeper.

 “Don’t be afraid,” the minibot said as he put the datapad back into his subspace, “you’re Waspinator right? I’m Fixit, I was the one driving the Alchemor when it bashed-stashed- _crashed_.” Another sigh from the minibot and Waspinator just stared at him.

 He _knew_ he’d recognized those optics. Those were the dim blue lights he’d seen when he’d been fighting stasis. Fixit had only been doing his job, and while Waspinator wanted to resent him for it, he knew he couldn’t. Plus he had a speech defect just like _he_ did, so that was nice.

 Fixit seemed more bothered by his speech than used to it though, but bots were hatched with speech impediments. So if he had been hatched or manufactured that way why wasn’t used to it, why would he be talking like that?

 “Why zzmall one talk like that?” he asked, slowly lifting his head toward the surface of the pile.

 Fixit shook and threw his hands up, backing up a few peds and knocking the stasis rod off his hip. “I wonder!” He nearly shouted, looking away. “I was only in a giant spaceship that crashed into the berth-mirth- _Earth_ , it crashed into the _Earth_!” His voice box rose in volume and Waspinator instantly burrowed to the bottom of the pile. He shook in fear and covered his optics, internal map calculating the fastest route out of here the instant his wings were up and running. Maybe he could turn off his digestive tank for a few kliks to reroute power…

 “Where did you…” Fixit’s voice trailed off and Waspinator could hear his little wheels churning over gravel as he got closer. “Oh slag, I’m sorry Waspinator. I wasn’t telling-selling- _yelling_ at _you_ , I’m just upset. Are you… do you want me to leave?” the softness of his voice was a sweeter nectar than even Steeljaw’s.

 Every plate on Waspinator’s back rippled and he couldn’t tell if it was from the tremble that was already running through him or the calm trying to set in. All his systems stayed at high alert, but his plating desperately wanted to unclench from his protoform.

 When Fixit remained, unmoving even though he was well within range to hurt Waspinator with that prod, Waspintaor let out a steady vent that made pieces of dirt and metal scrapings fly this way and that across the ground.

 “You going to be okay?” Fixit asked gently. “I don’t want to leave you here if you’re hurt.” Waspinator slowly moved his hands away from his optics and peered through the trash. “Do you want to come out? I know you didn’t mill-trill- _kill_ anyone in Iacon, not in the Emerald district, unlike what your file says. I know you’re not really a bad bot.” Waspinator flinched, then sat up straight in shock.

 “Little bot knowzz about that?” he asked in surprise. Fixit jerked back in shock and clutched at his chest plate.

 “Yeah.” He said slowly, rolling back a few peds as Waspinator attempted to gracefully climb out of the pile.

 There was nothing graceful about climbing out of the trash though, he got his leg caught twice on the same pipe.

 “Insecticons prefer damp places, fresh water sources or enclosed areas,” Fixit said, as if he was reading it straight out of a book, “and flying insects stay near their hives, not rich high council neighborhoods with manicured pawns-fawns- _lawns_.” He shrugged and looked down, his wheel nudging the stasis prod away.

 Waspinator finally shook off the last of the debris and tried not to tremble in delight. Fixit had taken him into consideration just like Steeljaw had. The only different between the two was the rush of endorphins he felt for Fixit’s treatment of him kept going, whereas the ones he’d felt with Steeljaw were laced with ‘Taken’ coding.

 Waspinator stretched his antenna up in interest as he kept his body low and tucked into himself just in case. He tilted his head and stepped to the side, testing the range of movement this Autobot would give him.

 Fixit just stayed in place and gave a nervous pat to the top of his tires, eyes downcast. “So uh… you can go any time, and I won’t let anyone pace-mace- _chase_ after you, so long as you don’t start any real trouble I mean.” His thumbs bounced on the treds and Waspinator caught the slight tremor in his hands, the tightness of his plating against his protoform.

 He blinked his optics and focused on the radio signals around them. There wasn’t an incoming comm that might have made that reaction. On the off chance he closed his optics for a few kliks and dragged in a long vent, the smell swirling around his antenna and seeping into the small sensors there.

 There was the faintest hint of sweetness on the air pouring off Fixit, a smell Waspinator knew all too well. He wanted to laugh as he opened his optics, but that would be impolite.

 “Minibot wantzz thingzz.” Waspinator muttered, stretching out his wings. “Wazzpinator can get you thingzz, if you azzk nicely.” That sounded far sleazier than he’d meant it to. Oh well, what’s done was done.

 Fixit stood up straighter. “You mean the stasis pods?” he asked, mouth open to continue.

 It wasn’t what he meant.

 A crash from down the isle made them both jerk in shock though. Waspinator didn’t take any chances, his wings booted online and he took off into the air. He could hear Fixit calling after him, trying to get him to come back well after Waspinator was out of sight.

 Later he might come back, but not when the sun was up, not when the Autobots who _would_ hurt him were walking about so close to Fixit. To stay any longer would have meant being caught and being forced back into onto one of those _awful_ pods. On top of that it probably meant pain, if the state of his companions were any indication when they came back from their ‘scouting’ ventures.

 He huffed and rolled his shoulders, lowering his range of flight so he was closer to the ground and the water. The information he had was definitely precious, and Steeljaw would greatly appreciate it and put it to good use so they could all avoid the Autobots in the future now that they knew where they were. Things were looking up for them, for him _especially_.

 Waspinator had a home, he had bots who… sort of cared about him, and he had a possible courting mate if the urge arose in his systems later on. With a click of his mandibles he spun in the air, dipping his feet into the water in delight. This day wasn’t so terrible after all!

 Oh, wait, wing cramp. He took it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's totally talking about the D


	6. 6

 When he got back to the camp the main room was empty and the compound was, overall, silent. Waspinator raised an optic ridge in confusion, both his antenna alert as he searched for any sign of the others. From the hallway he could finally hear the heavy snoring and snuffling of Underbite, the bot kicking metal nesting in his sleep. But stiil, that was only _one_ bot accounted for.

 He could hear scuttling outside and he chose to ignore it in favor of settling himself in the kitchen. If this was a trap or some kind of ploy to ambush him, he’d prefer to be well fueled for it. Waspinator grabbed a cube and sipped from it with his optics shut, savoring the taste as always. After such a long flight he deserved it, right?

 Right!

 Suddenly a noise alerting him from the front entrance. He could hear the click of the garage door unlocking and rolling up. Soft, sweet conversation flittered about the large main room and Steeljaw’s voice was a warm comfort. Waspinator finished off his cube and set it in the sink, hurrying to the main room to deliver his news.

 And he almost bumped right into Thunderhoof.

 “Eyoo, you tryin’a make this a habit?” The tractor asked as he took a defensive stance.

 “Down boy.” Steeljaw was firm, hand already clamped down on Thunderhoof’s shoulder. “There you are Waspinator, we were worried about you. We didn’t know if you’d be coming back or not, the sun is almost about to set after all.” The mecha offered him a smirk and his grip on Thunderhoof eased after his claws left little pricks where the energon could well up.

 Waspinator could see the tension between them both, the frustration in every flick of Steeljaw’s tail and the way Thunderhoof’s plating was held close and his fists were clenched.

 They must have had a lovers quarrel.

 “Thizz izz home, alwayzz come back to home.” Waspinator smiled the best he could. He knew his face wasn’t the easiest to read because of the mandibles. “Wazzpinator hazz zzuch good newzz, found the Autobotzz.” The pure surprise and delight that rolled off of Steeljaw’s EM field was almost infectious.

 Steeljaw let go of Thunderhoof and seemed to ignore him in favor of searching hurriedly for some of those blue papers. “Help me will you?” Steeljaw muttered to Thunderhoof as he pulled out a few and stuffed them into his arms.

 “I’m not your lacky.” Thunderhoof said, shoulders squared back. Steeljaw just _looked_ at him and glared, a low growl in his throat as his tail flicked so hard it hit the other bot in the hip. “Hey!”

 “We need to get Waspinator to write down the way to the Autobot’s base. We need a map.” Steeljaw snapped, his voice harsh. Waspinator flinched and tucked himself down behind one of the nearest crates, helm closer to his shoulders as he slipped back toward the wall and away from the commotion. He went unnoticed as the two bigger bots sifted through several papers and cursed when they found most of them already drawn on.

 He should have just said he could put the data on a thumb drive or transfer it via wrist port, but this was more fun. His mandibles clicked as they bickered under their breath at one another.

  _Way_ too much fun.

 “Here, found ya’ one.” Thunderhoof slapped a paper onto the nearest crate and glared. “I ain’t got no pen though, so if you expect me to supply you, you’re outta luck.” He watched as Steeljaw bristled and walked over to the desk he kept pushed against the wall.

 “Earth doesn’t have pens in our size.” Steeljaw muttered. “Waspinator, can you work in… where’d he-oh, there you are. Can you work with charcoal?” he lifted a chunk out of a drawer and Waspinator nodded.

 Charcoal was one of the cheaper writing utensils back on Cybertron, and most people in the slums would just give them to you to get rid of the stuff. It was also the compound in most graffiti.

 He walked over and took the lump handed to him, noticing which edge would be better for pressing on a paper to draw.

 “Would have been easier to just get it out of his head.” Thunderhoof grumbled as Waspinator started drawing.

 “Sure, you can be the first in line to share data with him.” Steeljaw whispered, but Waspinator still caught it. He tried not to flinch. Bots always had to have a stigma about sharing things with mecha that weren’t similar in frame type. Or maybe bots were just rude to insecticons because they reminded them so much of the Swarm…

 Whatever the reason, he tuned them out to focus on the drawing, and when he finished he set the charcoal aside.

 “Wazzpinator izz finished. Even marked where he ran into the zzmall bot.” A noise of confusion from Steeljaw made him look up.

 “What do you mean, you ran into an Autobot? You didn’t lead them here did you?” the sweet honey Steeljaw had in his voice earlier was gone. Now it was just cold iron.

 Waspinator backed against the crate and put his hands up defensively, trying his hardest not to shake in front of a predator.

 “No! No Wazzpinator wazz not followed! Zzmall bot wazz the one who let Wazzpinator go. He izz no trouble, very… nice, actually.” Waspinator readied his wings to take off if Steeljaw took another step forward. He wouldn’t take chances when someone talked to him like that. That tone of voice never meant anything good for him, not in his experience at least.

 Steeljaw seemed to notice and sighed, the plating that had been on end easing as Thunderhoof walked over to rub his back and whisper over a private comm line. The small burst of opaque light between them as the connection was almost blaring on Waspinator’s optics.

 “What a mess.” Steeljaw muttered as he turned toward the other bot and nudging him through the private comm. Waspinator tried not to sigh and roll his eyes.

 If they were any more of a couple he’d throw up on them.

 They shared soothing waves with their EM fields, and even as close nit as they held them to their own plating, Waspinator could still _feel_ it. After a few minutes of silent conversation, Waspinator put his hands down and turned to go. No need to be somewhere he wasn’t wanted _or_ needed right now.

 “Wait,” Steeljaw called out even though his optics never left Thunderhoof‘s, “Waspinator, I want you to keep a close optic on this bot that let you go. If he was soft of you, maybe we can show him how twisted the Autobots really are and we can bring him over to our side.” He finally looked away from the other bot and smiled.

 Thunderhoof rolled his optics so hard they sparked at the corners.

 “Would that be alright?” Steeljaw asked. Waspinator didn’t really have to think it over.

 “Yezz, Wazzpinator can do that.” He’d _happily_ keep both optics on Fixit. The more he could learn about a potential mate the _better_ , and what Steeljaw didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. He also had a good point, maybe Fixit could be convinced to defect, or maybe he could simply be convinced to let Waspinator court him.

 Now all he needed to do was find something that would interest the minibot.


	7. 7

 An Earth week later and Waspinator was not only able to pick through musical radio stations with ease, but he’d found the first gift he wanted to give to Fixit to state his _intentions_. Sure, it was just a simple rock, but it was a rock that had _gold flecks_ in it!

 Gold was a delectable treat and not that expensive, but here it seemed to be rather _rare_. Hopefully Fixit had a sweet derma, otherwise this gift… might seem a little backwards.

 But when a bot was courting another bot, you brought flowers or candy the first time, and since this planets floura was all organic and too delicate for him to try picking... candy it was!

 Waspinator had gathered more than just the gold of course, but he needed to start small and work his way up, that was the right way to go about it after all. He’d never _personally_ courted anyone, but he’d seen the movies and read the free books that floated around the bunched servers in public libraries. While he didn’t have first hand experience, he knew the steps and all the sweet, corny bits that came with courting.

 If Steeljaw ever found out about this he’d loose his collective scrap and possibly throw the nearest mecha across the room. If Thunderhoof didn’t throw them first of course. Those two were openly courting one another now and their anger was started to melt together as well as their joy. Waspinator was pretty sure he was the only one to have caught on.

 He shook his head of thoughts as he perched on top of the fence that nightfall. Almost everyone was laying down for recharge, and the only bot awake was Fixit, diligent at his station on the busted form on the Alchemor. He wasn’t doing anything too serious though, in fact Waspinator was pretty sure he was just playing a game at the console to keep himself awake instead of actually keeping an optic on the monitors.

 Curiously, he blinked to look at the radio signals, listening in to the sounds around Fixit’s fingers as the filtered about his antenna. Small electronic explosions could be heard from the speakers and Waspinator had to fight not to laugh. He focused again on his surroundings and continued to stay out of the camera’s view.

 His future mate _would_ shirk duties to keep himself awake with a game.

 What had Waspinator been thinking about before this? Not getting caught of course but… oh right, the candy. He dug into his subspace and pulled out the small chunks of gold and smiled at them.

 Bringing the treats to his mouth he transformed his mandibles back far enough that he could kiss them, then pulled his hand away and fixed each mandible with a click. Looking down at the back of the Alchemor, Waspinator turned off his auto-buzz and made his way to the top, positioning himself just behind the camera. He looked down at the simple set up and easily scrambled the camera so it went out.

 Fixit continued to play his game, never seeing the screen go out beside him. Waspinator smiled and shook his head. He’d need to make sure Fixit paid better attention from now on.

 Quietly he floated just behind the minibot and set the candy on the stool next to him, then tapped his shoulder before boosting himself as high in the air as he could. He was quick to move out of Fixit’s line of sight as the minibot flailed, pausing his game and squeaking in shock.

 Fixit looked around, confused as to who had tapped him, and when he saw no one he trembled. His eyes settled on the gold and the big blue optics blinked in confusion. Waspinator pulled his hands close, tucking them under his chin in excitement. If Fixit excepted the candy then Waspinator could continue seeing him. He just needed to reach out and _take_ one.

 Several confused minutes went by before Fixit hesitantly reached out and poked at the pile.

 An overheat alert pinged in Waspinator’s HUD and he realized he’d been holding his vents shut this entire time. He forced them open and ignored the gush of hot air his fans were kicking out when Fixit picked up a piece of gold.

 In his delight he nearly fell off the fence, his hands coming up quickly as he tried not to make any noises of delight that might give him away. Fixit seemed not to notice the furious flutter of Waspinator’s wings when he popped the gold into his mouth and turned back to the console.

 Waspinator burst through the atmosphere above him just to scream in delight, then quickly dropped down several yards away in the bushes. He lay flat against the dirt and rolled, hands still covering his face in absolute glee.

 He’d _accepted_ the gift! Fixit had accepted his courting, he’d accepted _Waspinator_. Well, he hoped it was obvious that Waspinator was the one courting him. Also there better not be any other bots after Fixit’s attention…

 He’d have to do a stake out to make sure that he wasn’t going to be in a fight later on for the mini’s affection. Right now he just wanted to stay here in the sand and roll in his absolute delight.

 If he played his cards right he’d have a mate, a _real_ one and not one he had to pretend to have just to get through life. Waspinator didn’t even feel bad when his fans whined as he laughed in excitement. His body was overheating from the sheer amount of happiness coursing through his systems.

 That night Waspinaor found a nice spot beneath an overturned tree and slept there simply so he’d have something to do to pass the time. His dreams were full of smiles and soft lips against his own before he awoke and forgot them. He climbed out when the sun started to bake his plating, then sat up and stretched. Today was going to be a good day, he just knew it. He’d keep an eye on Fixit throughout the morning and see if any other mecha was in competition with him.

  _Nothing_ could go wrong.


	8. 8

 The next time Waspinator thought the words ‘nothing could go wrong’, he’d shoot himself in the _ped_. Steeljaw hushed him with a sweet caress over his helm as Fracture grumbled as he welded his wing back into place.

 “Hey, I’ll go with you next time.” Underbite muttered, his muzzle resting under Waspinator’s hands as a distraction. “No one deserves to be attacked like that.” His unusually calm demeanor would have made Waspinator’s wings twitch in worry, but that was currently impossible.

 “Wazz an accident. Didn’t even know Wazzpinator wazz there even after dinobot stepped on hizz wing” Waspinator whispered.

 “Catching you outside of the fence and ripping your wing off under his foot is not an accident.” Steeljaw said flatly. Across the room, Clampdown snickered. Thunderhoof snarled at him, ready to charge, but Steeljaw’s hand on his shoulder stilled him. Clampdown quickly scuttled back into his trash pile.

 Waspinator just kept down optics down and continued to pet the top of Underbite’s helm. He was so affectionate today, maybe he wasn’t feeling well?

 “I would prefer Underbite to go with you if you think you’ll run into that dinobot again. He’s a very tough match for that _brute_.” Steeljaw frowned when he leaned back to look at the exposed wiring Fracture was fiddling with. “Primus… are you sure that doesn’t hurt?”

 “I already turned the pain receptors in his back off, he shouldn’t feel anything.” Fracture muttered before sticking a screwdriver between his lip plates and squinting.

 “What _were_ you doing so close to the base though?” Underbite asked before yawning.

 “Reconnaissance.” Steeljaw answered before Waspinator could even click his mandibles. “The only reason he got caught was that stupid alarm going off from a certain _someone_ not being _careful_ , which caused the Autobots to deploy.” His gaze flicked over to Clampdown and Thunderhoof’s EM field radiated affection at the sly jab.

 Waspinator tried to press his own closer to his body so he wouldn’t feel the two.

 “Wazzpinator wouldn’t have gotten caught if dinobot hadn’t been zzo clum-zz,” he muttered, “almozzt zztepped right on Wazzpinator in the bushezz.” Underbite crooned at him.

 “I’ll eat him alive.” He whispered as he bumped his head upward into Waspinator’s palm.

 Steeljaw coughed into his hand and his plating bristled as he gave a gentle full body shake. “No need, I believe that you found out several interesting things while you were there?”

 Waspinator nodded and reached up, plugging a small thumb drive behind one of his mandibles as he filtered several bits of data into it. When he was satisfied he unplugged it and handed it over. Steeljaw smiled and took it with a pleased growl, then turned to have a silent conversation with Thunderhoof and Fracture.

 Under his hands, Underbite looked up at Waspinator and tilted his head slightly. Waspinator repeated the gesture and would have shrugged, were it not for the hands buried in his back wiring.

 “You seem _different_ ,” Underbite muttered, “when you aren’t so tense you give off this…” he huffed through his nostrils, “pheromone? Whatever it is, it’s very relaxing.” His optics shut after he said it, front paws tucked under his maw. Waspinator felt his face flush with embarrassment.

 Underbite should _not_ be able to smell that. That was an animal or insect mecha aroma of those infatuated, it calmed those mecha around the one looking to court so the peace could be kept from all sides. If Underbite could smell it, there was no way that Steeljaw had missed it, nor Clampdown.

 He wasn’t sure about Thunderhoof, he wondered sometimes, but at least Fracture was spared.

 This was so _embarrassing_ though! Here he was letting off pheromones that said ‘Hey I’m courting someone please chill out around me so I look cooler than I actual am.’ Waspinator wanted to bury himself in the soil and never come back out.

 Eventually, Steeljaw and his friends finished their muttered and turned back to the task at hand.

 “Almost done, give your wings a very slow flap.” Fracture muttered. Waspinator did as he was told, though he couldn’t connect the sensation to the signals he was sending out. “The left one is lagging too much, hand me the angle grinder?”

 With a sigh, Waspinator continued to run his fingers over the bridge of Underbite’s nose. The loud noise behind him should have made him flinch, but all he could think about was how to slowly shut off his pheromones in a way that wasn’t obvious that he was scared. Or maybe just figure out a lie to tell Steeljaw so he didn’t rip him in half when he found out Waspinator was courting an _Autobot_ of all mecha.

 He let out a trembling sigh when the angle grinder lifted off his back. Why was his life so fragging _complicated_?

 “Are you alright?” Steeljaw asked as he leaned over to be closer to Waspinator’s shoulder. “You’ve been sighing as awful lot since you got back, and I really don’t think it has anything to do with getting your wing ripped off.” Waspinator tensed in shock and then yelped when Fracture smacked him in the shoulder with the screwdriver.

 “Don’t do that, you’ll bunch the wires.” Fracture muttered before he went right back to work.

 Steeljaw hummed in thought, optics roaming over Waspinator from top to bottom. He inhaled deeply as he leaned closer and Waspinator tried not to flinch away from him.

 “Oh.” Steeljaw stood up straight and smiled, all fangs. “Thunderhoof, see me in the hallway.” He turned on his ped and hurried. “ _Now_ , Thunderhoof.”

 The tractor mecha groaned and climbed off his stool. “So bossy, ah all the bots I had ta sit here an fancy it _had_ ta be Steeljaw.” He might have been whispering it all under his breath, but Waspinator heard every word.

 He tried very hard not to snicker as he walked away.

 “Alright, give me another flap.” Fracture said suddenly, hand coming down hard on Waspinator’s shoulder. Waspinator did as he was told and Fracture hummed. “Looks good, I’m going to reconnect your pain receptors, so if you feel a sharp pinch, it’s probably me.” The way he said it was far too gleeful.

 Waspinator yelped when the feeling came back to him, his wings booting up and flicking wildly. Fracture was quick to put his back panels back on after he checked all the lines over, then he stood up and left to see what Steeljaw and Thunderhoof were doing.

 At least that’s what he told Waspinator he was doing.

 Not long after he’d left, all three of them came back, each with a varying stage of amusement on their face. Steeljaw dragged a chair beside Waspinator over and grinned.

 “Underbite, come take a walk with me.” Fracture muttered.

 Underbite huffed sleepily from beneath Waspinator’s hands.

 “ _Now_.” Fracture snarled. Waspinator’s hands lifted up and away, scared of that tone and what it might imply. Underbite just snuffled and pushed himself to his feet, trotting lazily after the con.

 Left alone with Steeljaw and Thunderhoof, Waspinator buzzed his wings on and off, running several system checks to make sure all the pathways were up and ready to fly.

 “You’ve got a crush on someone.” Steeljaw said with a smile full of danger. Waspinator felt his tubing run cold. “No, it’s alright, don’t be frightened. This is _delightful_ news.” Thunderhoof stood in the way of the only exit and Waspinator began to think they were _lying_ to him. “That’s why you were at the base, weren’t you? You were keeping an eye on the bot you like.”

 Waspinator swallowed and clicked his mandibles in shock, scared to answer yes but equally scared to lie.

 “I think that’s perfect.” Steeljaw said, sitting up straighter. “Keeping an eye on someone you care about is important, and if you can keep an eye on them and the Autobots I think that maybe you can convince them to join us. If they see how the Autobots treat you when you’re only trying to court one of their own, maybe they’ll understand what’s really going on here.”

 Waspinator wasn’t entirely sure what Steeljaw was going on about, but he nodded anyway.

 “When do you think you’re going to go back and check on this bot you’re courting?” Steeljaw asked, suddenly very excited. Waspinator shrugged, glad at least that Steeljaw wasn’t making such a huge deal out of this. “I think the sooner the better.”

 Thunderhoof blinked in shock. “Eyoo, that’s pushin’ it. He needs to get proper strength in his wings back or he’s sure to get caught.” Steeljaw turned and gave Thunderhoof a look Waspinator couldn’t see, but it made the other mecha scowl. “No, m’gon over rule you. Waspinator you gon’ stay here until your wings are better. Go to your room, I need to have a _talk_ with Steeljaw.” Waspinator scrambled up and tried not to laugh as the two started bickering.

 He hurried into the hallway and then slid into his room, the door shutting with a soft click. He climbed into his nest and dragged up a file of collected footage he was able to record of Fixit.

 He let it play until he fell into a bored recharge.


	9. 9

 A few weeks later and Waspinator was back at the Autobot, perched on the fence as Fixit tried to wrangle everyone together for _Primus_ knew what. Were they exercising, were they attempting to dance, did they have full body rashes? _Who knew_. Whatever it was though, Waspinator thought it was hilarious. He watched silently for hours until the bots left Fixit alone at his station to either run patrols or… do whatever it was that Autobot’s did.

 The humans lingered for about ten minutes and then scuttled off to do human things, and Waspinator bit his lip plates and back his outer beak plating before flying overhead and perching on the top of the Alchemor. When Fixit was properly distracted he’d leave him more gifts, just like he’d done since he was able to fly again. There was no hiding his infatuation anymore, it was _pretty_ fragging obvious.

 After a few minutes, Fixit looked around and scratched his head. Wapinator tilted his head in confusion, what was the mini looking for?

 Then Fixit looked directly up at Waspinator and squeaked in surprise.

 “You scared the day heights-daymights- _daylights_ out of me.” Fixit said with a laugh even as Waspinator scrambled back. “What are you doing up there, get down before you fall.” He beckoned with one hand to a chair next to him.

 Every instinct in Waspinator’s body was telling him to fly away and hide, to scramble back from being caught and never return.

 Instead, he flew down and landed next to Fixit, perching himself on the chair with his wings at the ready in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Fixit smiled up at him and tilted his head, his optics accessing Waspinator in a way that sent chills through his circuits.

 “ _You’re_ the one who keeps leaving me candies aren’t you?” Fixit asked with a softer smile, “and you’re the one who brings me those little pieces off the stasis pods. All the little trinkets and tools, that’s been you hasn’t it?” There was a slight blush on his faceplates as he spoke.

 Another chill trickled down Waspinator’s spinal strut. “Yezz, all Wazzpinator.” For some reason, admitting it made him want to hide his face. He settled for covering his mandibles with his hands.

 Fixit laughed and looked away bashfully. “That’s been very neat-fleet- _sweet_ of you.” He huffed at his stutter and then relaxed against the control panel.

 “Fixit izz the zzweet one.” Waspinator said with a sigh, trying to cover up his blush behind his fingers. “Izz nice to Wazzpinator when no one elzze izz, alwayzz makezz time to talk to him.” He watched as Fixit chuckled.

 “We’ve only spoken twice.” The way he rubbed at his arm made Waspinator’s spark flutter. “Although I do admit I’d… like to talk to you more often. Maybe I can start giving _you_ gifts?” he asked it hesitantly, as if scared of Waspinator’s reaction. As if he was scared of a possible _rejection_.

 The trill that escaped his vocalizer was completely involuntary.

 “Wait, doezz thizz mean Fixit exzzeptzz Wazzpinator?” he asked in excitement, “doezz thizz mean Wazzpinator can keep courting Fixit?” his mandibles clicked and his antenna twitched. Every piece of his plating was drawn in tight, while his wings buzzed low and worried. What if he’d read too much into this, what if he was wrong?

 “Actually… I’d really like that. I’ve… never _been_ courted before.” Fixit admitted. “You know it’s not really a bing-fling- _thing_ that happens on Cybertron. People aren’t interested in…” he looked away and his fingers fiddled together.

 “Caretakerzz?” Waspinator asked in confusion. Fixit laughed and the small amount of tension that had built up in his shoulders eased away.

 “No, _mini’s_. Average sized mecha aren’t really interested in courting and dating bots that they’re two times bigger than.” Fixit laughed again, only this one was nervous and awkward.

 Waspinator looked down at his peds, then lowered his hands until they covered them. He waited for a few kliks, then looked up and reached out to Fixit, his hand sliding into the other mecha’s easily.

 “Wazzpinator izz not your average mecha.” He said as firmly as he could. “He would never hurt Fixit, only wantzz to zzee him zzmile…” when Fixit did just that, Waspintar churred in delight, “juzzt like that.”

 A gentle thumb rubbed against Waspinator’s fingers and Fixit let out a small, relieved vent.

 “I trust you.” Fixit said, squeezing Waspinator’s hand. “Now, why don’t you tell me how courting works for Insecticons so I can adhere to _you_ better.” And there was that blush again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took longer than it should have, my body shut itself off today.


	10. 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short, but it's just to move the plot along.

 Three months had gone by, and Waspinator was both delighted and exhausted.

 Balancing life between his new home and the Autobot base to see his boyfriend was driving Waspinator mad. He had to be horribly sneaky to see Fixit, and sometimes he’d hurt himself trying to not get caught. Of course he’d then have to make the long, laborious flight back home and be so tired by then he’d fall right into recharge if he was lucky, but it was worth it.

 If he was unlucky though, he’d run into Steeljaw, who would ask him to _‘report his findings.’_ Waspinator was pretty tired of that, and he _really_ hoped that whatever was causing Steeljaw to be so cranky would right itself soon, because this was starting to get _ridiculous_.

 Even _Thunderhoof_ was noticing his behavior. Of course Thunderhoof was also more than likely the cause, Waspinator just let the tractor mecha rescue him whenever he started to sway on his feet.

 There _had_ to be a solution to this, he was _so_ exhausted _all_ the time, and most of the time spent with Fixit he’d devolved into nuzzling and sleeping curled up around the mini while the Autobot kept watch. Occasionally they spent it kissing, sure, but Waspinator didn’t think of that as exhausting.

 He just thought of that as _fun_.

 Either way, he needed to come up with a solution to his problem, but nothing came to mind. Why couldn’t the base just be closer? Why couldn’t _he_ just be closer.

 … wait.

 Why _couldn’t_ he just be closer? What if he _lived_ somewhere between both places? A short enough distance that Fixit could visit him and not have to worry about the other Decepticons, and far enough away that he could still fly to both places if he needed to or was called in to report on something. Finding a place wouldn’t be that hard, and hell cleaning the place up would be even _easier_.

 The only thing he really might need to worry about would be Steeljaw’s reaction… Maybe he should talk to Thunderhoof first. Or Underbite?

 Ugh, why was life so difficult?


	11. 11

 Thunderhoof had happily agreed to the idea of Waspinator finding a new place, saying it was ‘a smart idea to have an extra base.’ Something about the look on his face unnerved Waspinator, like a puzzle piece that had fallen into place somewhere he couldn’t see. Thunderhoof had encouraged him to bring the idea up with Steeljaw, and it took a full day of convincing before he could actually do it.

 Steeljaw had cackled with delight at the idea, and not a cackle of warmth. The sound that came out of the mecha’s throat was full of ice and pinpricks, something mischievous and sluggish pouring into a picture that Waspinator just couldn’t piece together. Not yet at least. None the less, the signs were all there and he wasn’t going to ignore them.

 As much as he loved his home and his friends, if he could really call them that, having a place to call his own would be more than delightful. Especially with how unnerved he now felt around Steeljaw.

 He flew out immediately after he found a moment to himself and started the hunt. His first instinct was to hole up in a tree or underground, but those thoughts were quickly tossed away when he thought of Fixit. A place underground would only upset Fixit’s paranoia, and that was the last thing Waspinator wanted. He couldn’t handle the thought of Fixit coming to an underground nest and freaking out, there would be no getting him inside for any kind of cuddling.

 The obvious next choice was in a tree, but Waspinator had to nix that because _honestly_ how was Fixit meant to get into a _tree_ anyways?

 He’d need someplace high up, but still accessible to Fixit’s wheels. If there was a rock face with a cave he could extend, then maybe he could carve out a path in the side just for Fixit. Maybe even just build a ramp up to it depending on where the nest _was_. The point was, he was just going to have to find a rock face or a mountain… or a really sturdy hill.

 Any of those would work.

 He looked for three Earth hours until he found something suitable. The place wasn’t very tall, but it had a grand rock face with a little sliver on an entrance that expended inward to create a very beautiful den once you hollowed the entrance out. The area inside was dry in the font and a small tunnel that he could crawl through led to a small underground lake, a nice place to wash his plating if things got mess.

 The tunnel was angled so his den would never flood, and Waspinator spent the day cleaning out the main den and putting little odds and ends here and there before flying outside and mapping out the walkway for Fixit.

 Everything had to be perfect for when he invited him over, even the pathway there. He didn’t fly all the way to the Autobot base, but he flew until the common trails lined up. No need to get caught now that he didn’t have a proper medic on call.

 The sun had been down for hours by the time he finally finished, sometimes having had to move boulders or entire trees off paths just to cut a few hours off the walking journey to his den. All Waspinator wanted to do was sleep. He dragged himself back into the cave and into the quickly thrown together nest and laid sprawled out staring at the ceiling. He really should have plugged himself in before drifting off, but he was too tired to even think of that.

 Besides, he didn’t even bring any solar panels for the recharge station, the instant he used the plug he’d need to recharge it right afterwards.

 He didn’t dream that night, only woke with a sense of groggy accomplishment and a longing in his spark.

 Today was the day, it had to be. He’d invite Fixit over and they could properly relax together without the fear of Autobots or Decepticons bothering either of them. Today was going to be perfect, no exceptions.

 He made a quickly pit stop at the Decepticon base for his solar panels and was surprised when he couldn’t find anyone there. The thoughts made him shake his head as he headed home, they were probably all out looking for new energon sources.

 He sent Fixit coordinates and a time and set to work wiring in the solar panels for his recharge station. He might not be the smartest mecha around, and he got told that quite often in fact, but Fracture made sure to give him written instructions ( with pictures ) on how to set everything up. This was something he could do and be proud of.

 When everything was connected he plugged himself in and started working on making his next even more comfortable than it already was. He extended it outward and even built a ramp for Fixit’s wheels, cushioning it with tarps and emergency blankets he’d stolen from the pods that Steeljaw had take for… whatever purpose.

 He never did get around to asking what all those pods were for. Oh well, it obviously wasn’t anything sinister.

 Shaking his head, he unplugged from the recharge station and sat in the middle of the nest to wait. _Any_ minute now he’d get a reply from Fixit.

 … Any minute now.

 By the time the reply came in, Waspinator had fallen asleep out of sheer boredom. The instant the messaged pinged to him he sat up, wide awake and weapons alert.

  _‘Be there soon, was delayed. Love you. - F’_

 Waspinator’s spark fluttered so hard in his chassi that he had to grip it with both hands just to calm down. Something so simple and sweet shouldn’t crash him to the ground so easily, yet it always did.

 Neither of them had said the L word before, and here Fixit was saying it first. He’d never felt so lovely, so loved, so…

  _Deserving_ of someone’s love. In his past relationships he’d always felt used or like he hadn’t been good enough, and while it was true he often thought Fixit deserved far above the partner he’d settled for in Waspinator, he was too happy to care.

 He waited eagerly for Fixit, occasionally flying outside the doorway to see if he could spot the orange mini before darting back inside in a flustered heap. Fixit showed up slowly and when he got there he seemed so utterly exhausted that Waspinator didn’t even say hello to him, simply scooped him up and flew him over to the nest.

 “Sorry I’m fate-date- _late_.” Fixit mumbled, even as Waspinator plugged him up to the recharge station. “Had to clean up after the attack… such a mess. Never thought we’d get the wall back up.” His optics dimmed with oncoming sleep. As much as Waspinator wanted to press the issue, he let it drop between them. “Kiss me goodnight?” Fixit asked, one hand reaching up to brush against the tip of Waspinator’s mandibles.

 The contact made Waspinator shiver with delight. If anyone else had tried that he’d have bitten their entire hand off. But because it was Fixit he flicked his mandibles back and leaned in, pressing his lip plates to Fixit’s and feeling the smaller hand against his helm.

 “Fixit should recharge now.” Waspinator whispered before pressing another kiss to his lips. “We can talk more in the morning, zzweet dreamzz.” His antenna flicked excitedly as Fixit hummed.

 The mini reached up with both arms and pulled Waspinator down to the nest, his face buried against Wapinator’s chest plate. The hum of his engine was enough to make Waspinator buzz in contempt.

 They fell asleep like that, cuddled close with only the sound of their sparks beating in sync lulling them into an easy dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyooo the plot thickens in the background and flies right over Waspinator's head.


	12. 12

 Waspinator woke to the feeling of Fixit humming against his chest, his tiny fingers tracing seams and scars with a slow gentleness that he’d never felt before. The affection made him tremble and croon, his optics flickering as Fixit chuckled.

 “Good morning.” Fixit whispered, face nuzzled closer to the cords in his neck. “Did you know you purr in your sleep? Or buzz? I can’t tell.” He placed a very gentle kiss to the cords before pulling back. “I’ve never had the stark-lark-spark to tell you, but I’ve always found it very endearing.” The soft little sigh against his collar made Waspinator trill and fight back a full body shudder, his plating rattling against his frame.

 “Really?” Waspinator finally asked, rolling onto his back once Fixit let him go. Fixit sat up next to him and nodded, hand rubbing and the other mecha’s chest. He looked so sweet and sleepy right then that Waspinator sighed.

 “Really really.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to each of Waspinator’s mandibles, then one to his forehead. “You treat me like a normal mech, and I’m not sure if you realize how much that means to me.” His exhale was shaky, his fans loud as he trembled for a few seconds at his own words. Waspinator sat up on his elbows and clicked his glossa, his antenna alert.

 His spark pulsed and he tried to fight back a system overheat as his emotions swelled. Now would be the perfect time to tell Fixit just what the mini did to him… if only he could muster the courage…

 Oh frag it. In for a copper chunk, in for lead nugget.

 “Wazzpinator feelzz the zzame way,” he reached out and took Fixit’s hand, lifting it to kiss the back of his palm, “Fixit… can I tell you zzomething?” Fixit nodded and nudged his EM field against Waspinator’s, filling it with affection and comfort. “Wazzpinator izz… in love with you.” He felt his entire body shake as he admitted his feelings. He was so scared of confessing that, but earlier Fixit had sent that message so…

 Maybe things would be okay?

 Fixit just chuckled and reached out, kissing the top of Waspinator’s helm again and brushing a finger over his antenna. “I know, I love you too.” He whispered close to the other bots audial. “In fact I… I was hoping we could… move things to the next bevel-trebble- _level_.” When Waspinator looked at him in confusion, Fixit covered his face with both his hands. “Give me a few kliks to figure out how to say it?”

 “Take all the time Fixit needzz.” Waspinator said reassuringly. He waited, watching the silent war across Fixit’s face and he held out his hand for the other mecha to take. Fixit took it and squeezed. It didn’t take long before he seemed to steel himself, ready to say something. Waspinator tilted his head as he waited.

 When it was clear Fixit had made up his mind about what he wanted to say, he sat up completely and put his hands on his hips. “I think… that we should give interfacing a try.” The last bit was blurted out quickly, a flush rising over Fixit’s cheeks as his body overheated.

 Waspinator swallowed and raised a hand to his audial, smacked it a few times, and then replayed the sound clip for the last few seconds of his life. He blinked his optics in shock and then squeaked in surprise.

 “Really?” he asked. Fixit just nodded, a smile on his face that wanted to break into a happy laugh. Waspinator laughed for him in delight, scooping Fixit into his arms before his mandibles click aside and he kissed him. Fixit squeaked, both his arms flung around Waspinator’s neck as he kissed back with fervor.

 The kissing dissolved into giggles and light touches on armor, Fixit’s hands unclasping chest plate buckles and shoulder spaulders. Waspinator was quick to shimmy out of his outer armor and then settle Fixit onto his lap.

 “How doezz thizz work?” he asked suddenly, “Wazzpinator doezzn’t think he’ll fit? Doezz Fixit even have the proper equipment?” as delighted as he was at the prospect of interfacing with Fixit, he was now starting to see the drawbacks.

  _Was_ their interface equipment even compatible? He’d known plenty of bots in his life who weren’t compatible, and he’d known plenty of crushed relationships because of it.

 Fixit whined when the kissing was obviously halted, then leaned back to rub hesitant hands over his own tires.

 “I have a valve, but no spike. I mean I’ve got cables, but they are for hardline connections only. I wasn’t… I wasn’t built properly, I’m pretty sure my valve was put in as a joke.” Fixit looked away and shrugged. “If nothing else we can see if you’ll fit in my valve, and if you don’t we can hardline connect.” His hands left his tires and wrung together nervously, a look of worry over his features. “Is… is that almight-alfight- _alright_.” He huffed when he finally got the word out.

 Waspinator nodded, proud that Fixit hadn’t stuttered until the last. Fixit was so nervous, it was almost adorable.

 “Well then, before we get started, is there anything I should know about interfacing with an insecticon that might surprise me?” Fixit asked. Waspinator opened his mouth, then shut it with a click as he thought that over. His outer beak plating clacked together as he thought, then retracted.

 Now that really _was_ the question, _wasn’t_ it.

 “Pozzible Wazzpinator endzz up with eggzz if not properly protected. Can eazzily terminate them if Fixit doezzn’t want them though.” Waspinator said with a shrug.

 This wouldn’t be the first time he’d been with someone who’d wanted him to terminate, and it more than likely wouldn’t be the last. He’d terminated enough batches of his little ones to know how heavily that would weigh on his spark. Having buglets and then _keeping_ said buglets wasn’t really the norm on Cybertron… but then again the norm was ‘find another insecticon, mate, lay eggs, leave.’

 This was Earth. He was with Fixit. This was a planet for change, a planet for _peace_.

 Waspinator watched Fixit’s face for any signs of hesitation, any conflict. He looked him over for anything and saw…

 Acceptance.

 “Alright, if it happens we’ll take care of them together. We’ll start our own little family.” Fixit reached out, lacing his fingers with Waspinator’s and hushing his trembles. “It’s alright, I love you. We’ll get through this together.” And if that wasn’t the sappiest thing Waspinator had ever heard then he didn’t know what to think.

 He leaned down and kissed Fixit, pouring as much passion and love as he could into the touch. He pushed all his emotions through his EM field into Fixit’s ready and open connection, and each pulse was echoed against his own. There was just as much love and warmth pouring back at him as he dished out, and that made him croon.

 When they pulled apart from the kiss, Fixit let his forehelm rest against Waspinator’s, optics shut and a small hum echoing in his throat.

 “Will you show me your spike?” Fixit asked, voice low and nervous. Waspinator nodded, pulling Fixit closer until he was settled on his thighs. The mini leaned back and looked down when Waspinator reached between them and manually opened his panel. His hand titled, easing his spike out of his casing and stroking it slowly until it was firm between the two of them.

 Fixit watched, optics transfixed and fingers twitching. He reached out slowly, hesitant as he bit his lower lipplate.

 “May I?” he asked, hand a vent away from Waspinator’s spike. All he got was a hurried nod and click as his response since Waspinator was far too gone to say anything. He was surprised he wasn’t trembling all over, his spark pulsing so fast it felt like it might explode in his chest.

 When Fixit’s small fingers wrapped around his spike, Waspinator’s optics shut in shock, his hips bucking forward and nearly sending Fixit tumbling off his thighs. He couldn’t even justify that with anything other than ‘It’s been millennia since anyone has touched me,’ but he wasn’t going to say _that_ out loud.

 He wasn’t going to say that _ever_. All Waspinator was going to do was reach around Fixit’s back to keep him steady on his thighs and enjoy the feeling of those warm, familiar hands coming together around his spike as they begin to stroke. How did _anyone_ do this on a regular basis and not die of bliss, how did bots do this leisurely simply because they were _bored_? Waspinator was sure he was moments from falling offline. His spark was so out of control, he couldn’t imagine this feeling every single day.

 How did those mecha keep their sparks from going out?

 “You’re big enough to fit me, but not big enough to hurt,” Fixit muttered, “you… I could ride your spike, if you wanted me to.” Waspinator nearly choked at the thought. “Are you alright, is this too much?” Fixit’s hand stilled on Waspinator’s spike and he whined.

 When he shook his head, he looked down and moaned.

 Fixit’s mouth was open in a pant, one hand wrapped around Waspinator’s spike while the other hand was rubbing at his own open valve. He hadn’t even heard Fixit’s panels open, and the sight of that small, wet valve leaking lubricants over Fixit’s fingers made his leg twitch again.

 He quickly tapped his chest, positive he could no longer speak without overloading right there on the spot. Fixit looked at Waspinator’s chest in confusion, and then realization hit him.

 “Hardline?” he asked. Waspinator nodded emphatically and opened his chest plate, pulling out the length of cord as he watched Fixit abandon his valve in favor of fiddling with his chest plate. Fixit’s cord wasn’t as thick, but it had a universal adaptor that would easily wrap around Waspinator’s plug.

 Fixit’s fingers were sticky where he touched Waspinator’s cord and fed it into his own, but the feeling of cool transfluid on his cord was a cold jolt to bring him closer to sanity. When their connection established, Waspinator whimpered and shut his optics, letting the rest of the world drown out as Fixit’s presence wrapped into his own.

 The seems that outlined the difference between the two of them quickly blurred, and soon enough Waspinator couldn’t tell what feelings were strictly his own and what were Fixit’s. Not that he minded, every ounce of power coursing through him screamed love and adoration. His body felt like it was floating in warmth for a moment, but then the sensation eased and Waspinator let out a long breath before opening his optics.

 Fixit was trembling in his lap, both his hands pressed against Waspinator’s chest. He leaned over and kissed the top of Fixit’s helm, radiating reassurance and waiting for the mini to even out from the wash of emotions spilling through the connection.

 When Fixit looked up he was smiling blissfully, his optics a little glassy as he curled his fingers against his chest. Waspinator could feel the pulse of Fixit’s valve through the bond and he licked his lips. He reached down at his partners silent urging and pressed eager fingers to the wet folds of Fixit’s valve. From the touch, Waspinator got flashes of just how much Fixit enjoyed that, then there were the surges of how he liked to be touched. He followed each example given to him and chirred when Fixit’s tires spun in delight.

 Waspinator felt the echo of Fixit’s moan when the tips of his fingers delved between his folds and pressed gently at his valve. He could feel the clench in a moment of hesitation and Waspinator paused, his lips bushing against the top of Fixit’s helm. He sent a wordless question through the bond, a gentle nudge of curiosity to see if it was alright to continue or if Fixit wanted to stop here.

 Fixit chuckled and flooded Waspinator with love and encouragement, one of his hands resting on the back of Waspinator’s as he pushed. Waspinator gasped at the same time as Fixit did when two of his fingers sunk into Fixit’s valve, his own optics shutting in shock and feedback. They sat there and trembled for a few kliks, Fixit’s valve calipers trying to clench and draw Waspinator’s fingers in even further.

 They rode the waves of pleasure together until Fixit rocked his hips, his tires spinning and trying to catch a bit of friction. Waspinator moaned and spread his fingers slowly, feeling the resistance of Fixit’s calipers and the gush of lubricant that rolled down his fingers as he pulled them back. Fixit hiccupped in shock and gripped Waspinator’s shoulder, urging the other bot to quicken his pace.

 At first Waspinator was reluctant, but he soon found that Fixit was more than ready and began thrusting his fingers in and out of that eager, wet valve. Fixit was more than happy to be responsive, his body trembling as he peppered Waspinator’s face with kisses and clenched around his fingers. His soft moans were enough to stir Waspinator closer to his overload, and he got close enough that he needed to stop at one point, going as far as to pull his fingers out of Fixit’s valve and sit trembling while his partner hushed him once he felt the full extent through their feedback.

 Fixit was sweet and attentive even as his fluid dripped down Waspinator’s thigh. He crooned as he felt Fixit’s hands on his face and they shared another sweet, tender kiss. When he was sure he wouldn’t overload instantly, Fixit reached for his spike and nudged him gently with his field.

 Waspinator let out a vent and nudged back with his approval, pulling Fixit closer until his spike nudged against his valve folds. He trembled, optics shutting tighter than before as he moaned. Fixit did all the work, easing himself down onto Waspinator’s spike with soft little whines until their pelvic plating touched.

 Waspinator wrapped his arms around Fixit and crooned, his glossa clicking occasionally against the roof of his mouth. Fixit hushed him with gentle kisses and waited until Waspinator was able to open his optics before he did anything else. When they stared at each other for a few minutes Fixit rolled his hips with a firm intention. Waspinator whimpered and grabbed his partners hips to help him, trying to keep his optics trained on lovers.

 Fixit laughed sweetly, even though he was obviously out of breath and stuffed full of Waspinator’s spike. His arms tightened around Waspinator’s neck and he arched toward him, optics dimming as he panted and tried not to ride the feedback wave too high.

 “Fixit…” Waspinator paused at the sound of his own voice echoing through the connection. He had no idea he sounded like that. “… overload… if you want to.” The words had to be forced out, his vents stuttering as Fixit whimpered and clenched around him.

 The feel of hesitation made him groan, his hands tightening on Fixit’s as he angled them via the feeback instructions. When his spike hit the upper wall of Fixit’s valve he felt a jolt of pure arousal shoot through him like lightning. It felt just as quick and just as hot as the bolt might have, only instead of leaving his systems fried and uncomfortable, every inch of him had a surge of charge burst through it.

 Waspinator swallowed and pulled back, only to rock into that same spot once again. Fixit cried out, his entire body trembling as his valve calipers clenched tightly around Waspinator’s spike. His field urged for more, faster, and Waspinator moaned and felt his leg lift and tremble.

 There was no way he could last through this.

 That thought must have tipped Fixit over the edge, because the next few thrusts had Fixit’s optics screw shut and his hands gripping tightly at Waspinator’s shoulders as he let out a silent cry. His valve fluttered and then clamped down, and Waspinator rode through the sudden feedback burst of Fixit’s overload. In his shock he thrust up a few more times, then felt the tight tension that had built up inside of him break. He felt not only Fixit’s overload, but his own. The two of them crashed together, both literally and metaphorically, and when Waspinator’s processor finally reset he opened his optics to see a giggling Fixit laying across from him on the nest.

 They must have fallen over, how embarrassing.

 “That was…” Fixit decided against words and just pushed the love he felt through their sit connected cords. Waspinator moaned and pushed his own love back at Fixit, nuzzling his face close to the other bots helm. They lay together, messy and soaked in each others fluids, still connected at the chest and in a half daze.

 Eventually they’d need to disconnect, but not now. Right now all Waspinator wanted to do was feel the warmth and love surround him and pretend there was no such thing as ‘the other ped dropping.’

 At some point Fixit did unplug them, he even cleaned them both up, although Waspinator couldn’t remember most of it. He did remember Fixit tucking himself under his chin with a yawn and plugging them both in to the recharge station. He even remembered the soft coo Fixit made as he pulled Waspinator’s arms around him and they both drifted off to recharge curled close.

 Getting up and going back to the Autobot base would have been the better idea for Fixit, and fortifying some kind of defense would have been smarter for Waspinator. Instead, they wrapped up in each others EM fields and dreamt about their future together. Countless eons of waking up next to the other and feeling this endless love.

 In the morning they’d need to talk about what they were going to do about the Autobots and Decepticons being at each others throats.

 Either way, Waspinator was happy.

 For however long it would last at least.


	13. 13

 “Waspinator.” Fixit’s voice was sweet as his hand shook Waspinator’s shoulder. “Waspinator, I have to get back to the face-mace- _base_.” Waspinator opened his optics blearily as the soothing sound of Fixit’s voice. “Hey, I have to get back, something happened. Looks like there was another attack while I was faun-wan- _gone_ , but looks like they were able to get the majority of the bots back into pods.” Waspinator nodded, the words not really sinking in properly and just floating atop his subconscious. “I’ll be back, don’t worry. I love you.” Fixit leaned down and kissed Waspinator far too passionately for someone who had been asleep only moments before.

 This must be the other shoe.

 Waspinator didn’t comment on it, just watched as Fixit hurried out of the cavern. He should have said I love you back, but he’d been too confused as to why Fixit had even _wanted_ to leave in the first place. When the mini was well out of sight, Waspinator lay back on the nest and sniffled. He might as well wake up and start fortifying his nest.

 As he sat up the smell of warm energon hit his olfactory sensors and he looked around in shock. There as a fresh cracked cube of energon on what looked like a makeshift table made out of the edge of his nest. Under the corner of the cube there was a quickly scribbled note in laser pen.

  _‘I’ll never forget tonight, can’t wait for the next one and every one after that. All my love. - F’_

 Waspinator felt his fans stutter and his spark skip a pulse. So this was definitely _not_ the other ped dropping. This was the universe throwing both peds out the galaxies window and saying a royal frag you to that. His wings buzzed in embarrassed excitement and he wiggled on the nest before crawling over to scoop up the cube.

 He was going to back up all of those memory of an external drive and keep it on him at all times and never _ever_ let it go. Every single sensation would be stored forever in that drive, just in case something happened to him.

 With a flustered buzz, he started sipping from the cube. Fixit had been talking about something before he left, a reason why… but whatever it was he couldn’t drag it to the forefront of his processor. Must not have been that important.


	14. 14

 It took less time than Waspinator thought it would have to fortify his new home with a few security measures and extra secret entrances and exits. Spending his entire life doing this to every place he stayed in didn’t make him feel better about it, but it did cheer him up with the years of practice he knew he could fall back on.

 He was also sad that Fixit hadn’t come back right away, in fact he was gone for a month before he finally showed back up.

 Each day Waspinator found something new to occupy his time, and even went as far to visit the Autobot camp and steal large block of energon just to keep himself healthy and see how Fixit was. When he flew over the scrap yard he saw they had a new wall, the other recently trashed by… something _heavy_ from the looks of it.

 The fighters all looked battered and bruised, some worse for the wear, but they still seemed in high spirits as they patted the three new stasis pods in the compound. Waspinator didn’t have the spark to go and see if the cons inside were his friends or not, and he was even more scared to comm them just to make sure.

 What if they didn’t answer? What if they really _were_ in those pods?

 The thought made him whimper and leave without even bothering to say hello to Fixit. He couldn’t possibly face the thought of his friends in those awful cages while he had free reign to do whatever he wanted. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t _fair_. They _all_ deserved a second chance just as much as he did… right?

 Shaking his head, he flew home and set up the cube on the makeshift table Fixit had made. Waspinator had spent the time to make the legs sturdier and the table top thicker, and now it held the cube easily.

 He hummed and rearranged the cavern three times in his nervous fit. Then after a while he redid the nest.

 Countless times.

 The bedding was simply missing something. Quite a few something’s in fact.

 Huffing the entire time, he flew back out to the scrap yard under the cover of night and stole quite a few things, anything he could carry in fact, and then slowly made his way back to his home. He dumped all the items to the floor, then spent the rest of the night finding suitable trees and braches to crush up and dump into the bottom of the nest.

 When that was finished, Waspinator took a step back to look at his work and blinked in shock. This wasn’t… normal. He checked his internal protocols and did a system scan.

 Fixit took that moment to roll through the door and paused, looking around at all of the stolen metal littering the floor.

 “Do I… want to ask?” Fixit mumbled, eyebrow ridge raised as he nudged a piece of piping with his foot.

 “Wazzpinator knowzz what izz going on.” He said with a laugh, hands relaxed on his hips as he watched Fixit traverse through the mess.

 “Mind sharing with me?” he asked.

 With a bright grin, Waspinator knelt down by Fixit and pulled him into a hug when he was close enough. Fixit squeaked at first, but then closed his eyes and returned the hug. When he attempted to pull back Waspinator held him still, reaching down to take Fixit’s hand.

 Fixit made a confused noise, opening his mouth to question what on Earth Waspinator was doing, but then his hand was pressed firmly to Waspinator’s belly plate.

 “Shhhh.” Waspinator leaned closer, his forehead resting atop Fixit’s. “Feel it?” he waited for Fixit to say something, but when he didn’t he pulled back to tell him. The look on Fixit’s face was one of pure shock and delight, so he settled for remaining quiet when Fixit finally moved his hand against his belly.

 “Already?” Fixit asked, still in obvious shock as he lowered himself to press an audial next to Waspinator’s plating.

 “They grow very fazzt. Will lay them zzoon, then they grow more.” Waspinator whispered, letting Fixt focus on the soft bubbles in his tank. Fixit laughed, looking up in delighted shock.

 “I… do you know how many?” he asked, looking around at the mess. “And what’s all this? Is it for the best-dressed- _nest_.” He shook his head and then looked up at Waspinator as he stood and went back to said nest.

 “No, not for nezzt, for framezz.” Waspinator climbed into the nest and began to squish the branches sticking up. He laid flat and rolled a few times, making sure nothing stuck out and jabbed him.

 “Frames? As in more than one?” Fixit practically flew to the side of the nest and hung over the edge. Waspinator laughed and put a hand on his belly, pressing gently at the outer armor.

 “Yezz. Two, maybe three? Wazzpinator izz not sure yet, too zzoon to tell.” He shrugged and Fixit laughed in delight as he climbed over the lip of the nest.

 “Do you know how exciting this is? I mean of course you do, you’re the one having them, but you’re marrying-ferrying- _carrying_ sparklings! Two sparklings!” Fixit flailed about and then stopped when he noticed the scrunched face Waspinator made. “What? I thought you’d be excited.”

 Waspinator nodded. “Wazzpinator izz very excited, but he izz not carrying zzparkingzz, he izz carrying bugletzz.” He said it proudly, because it was the only way to say it. He would add to the population of the insecticons on this plant and be _happy_ about it.

 And Fixit would raise them with him, these little ones wouldn’t have to wake up in armor-less frames without anyone to guide them.

 Fixit trilled in elated joy as he lay next to Waspinator and put a gentle hand next to his own. “I… I wonder if either of them will be mini’s…” He bit his lower lip plate and Waspinator smiled.

 “Wzzpinator hopezz one of them izz, juzzt so he can love that one twizze azz much.” he teased. Fixit laughed and shook his head.

 “We’re going to love them equally, however many there are, and we’re going to be there for them every step of the way.” Fixit sighed and then rest his head on Waspinator’s shoulders. “Hey… how did you get sparked? I never filled you with anything.” He muttered the last bit, ever the curious bot.

 Waspinator laughed and tapped his chest. “Wazzpinator izz a wazzp mecha, we do not need tranzzfluid to make eggzz. We need hardlinezz.” Fixit sat up and flushed.

 “Oh my Primus you knew that and you still…” He smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of Waspinator’s antenna. “I love you so much.”

 Waspinator churred and kissed him back. “Wazzpinator lovezz you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnd that's a wrap.


End file.
